


Photographs

by tiny_freakin_head



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: (that fail horribly), Fluff, M/M, Multi, No Smut, Romantic Gestures, Spy and Heavy are besties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 16:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13104033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_freakin_head/pseuds/tiny_freakin_head
Summary: Spy wants Sniper and Engineer to know more about his past, but he's not good at talking about his emotions. He leaves them blank envelopes full of pictures. Sniper and Engineer naturally assume he's being blackmailed.





	Photographs

It took months of work, but finally, Spy had two small envelopes in his hands. They contained every known photograph of himself, plus doubles. Normally he would have considered burning them—as a Spy he liked to leave no trace of his own existence—but there were people who _wanted_ to see every trace of him, to know every part of him. And so, with only a little bit of terror, he left one envelope on Engineer’s worktable, and the other on the counter of Sniper’s camper van. They would find them in their own time and put it together, and he hoped they would appreciate them as much as he found he appreciated their histories.

Sniper stopped whistling to himself when he saw the envelope on his counter. It wasn’t labeled in any way. A little cautiously, he flipped it over. The other side was also blank, and the envelope wasn’t sealed. Grabbing a knife, he pressed the flap down, opening the envelope a little, and peered inside. Pictures? Who would be leaving pictures on his counter, and why? His eyes widened, and he poured them out on the counter. He felt a brief surge of relief—they weren’t, as he’d worried, pictures of him or his family—followed by an icy chill in his chest. The people in the picture were strangers, except… One of them looked familiar. He confirmed his suspicion—the same man, older or younger, was in all of them.

Grabbing the envelope and pictures, he ran for Engineer’s workshop, where he could usually be found at this time. The damn keypad wasn’t working—again—so he pounded on the door. He didn’t want to shout and alert everyone—especially Spy. His hands were shaking and his mouth was dry with fear and rage.

Engineer answered the door, wiping black grease off his organic hand. “Hey, Slim, what’s wrong?” he frowned. Sniper looked terrified and angry.

Speechless, Sniper handed over the slightly bent pictures and their envelope. He didn’t want to tell Engineer what he thought he’d seen, not yet. He wanted to see if Engineer came to the same conclusion.

Engineer flipped through the photos slowly, curiously. “Where did you get these?” he sounded incredulous. They were clearly all pictures of Spy, from the age of about five up to now.

“They were…the envelope was in my camper after today’s battle.” Sniper wasn’t sure if Engineer was trying to stay calm to make him feel better, if he hadn’t come to the same conclusion, or he knew something Sniper didn’t. He thought the last option was the most likely, or maybe the second. Engineer was a genius; he’d probably realized something that never would have occurred to Sniper.

Engineer went pale. “You think this is some kind of blackmail?”

Sniper stiffened. It was exactly what he’d thought, but hearing Engineer say it made it all too real. “Yeah. Can’t see what else it could be. The question is, are they trying to get to me, or to him? Whoever’s doing this knows a lot about…us.” He ducked his head. “I mean, we’re not exactly _discreet_ , but we don’t go parading around outside of the base, either.”

Shaking his head slowly, Engineer ushered Sniper into the security of his workshop. Upon sitting at his workbench, he noticed a similar envelope on his table. He exchanged a look with Sniper and poked through these photos as well. They were the same.

“Heck, I-I don’t know what to make of this,” Engineer admitted. “Do you think it’s the BLU Spy?” That snake was the only one who came to mind when he thought of blackmailing their Spy.

At the sight of the second envelope, full of identical pictures, Sniper’s head spun and he actually had to sit down and put his head between his knees for a moment. He lifted his head when Engineer spoke, slapping the brim of his hat on his thigh. “Of _course_! Bloody stupid, I should’ve thought of that right off.” He smiled, baring his pointed canines. “Want to go pay him a little visit?”

“Yeah, I think so. Do you think Spy got an envelope too?” Engineer worried. That man was so paranoid, something like this was liable to send him into hiding. After all the work they’d done to make him feel safe here on base, this just seemed like it would be a huge step back.

“Don’t know. Hope not. D’you think it’d be pictures of him, or of us?” It was fairly common knowledge that Sniper kept several photo albums in his camper, and Engineer had shown Sniper and Spy some pictures from his childhood once—getting either of those would be easy. Getting pictures of _Spy_ , though… Sniper shivered. “Let’s not worry him, not yet. Besides,” he grinned, ferally, “if he _did_ get one, we’ll probably run into him while we’re there.”

“That or we’ll never see him again,” Engineer grimaced. “Let’s get going.”

Sniper’s eyes widened, and he nodded. It stung, but he had no trouble believing Spy would disappear over something like this, whether it was to protect them, or only himself.

Spy came out of his smoking room as the two of them passed, smiling at them. They seemed unusually serious about something, and his smile faded a little. “Is something wrong?”

Engineer nearly startled to see Spy, and looking so calm and happy. Clearly he had not gotten an envelope. “Hey, darlin’,” he forced a smile. “No, course not, we’re just out for a walk.” His voice was unusually high, as it often was when he lied.

Not trusting himself to sound at all convincing—not that Engineer was any better at lying—Sniper just nodded. Part of him wanted to blurt everything to Spy and see what he made of it, but if Engineer wanted to handle this without him, that was probably the right way to go. “Walk,” he managed, sounding a little hoarse. He swallowed, hard. At least Spy was still _here_. That was the most important thing.

Spy frowned at them. Why were they lying to him? And what were they lying about? They were both terrible at it, surely they knew he’d see right through them? A pit sank in his stomach and he said a quick goodbye to them, heading to their respective areas to see if they’d gotten the envelopes.

They had.

Yet neither of them had said anything about it.

Perhaps it meant less to them than he’d expected.

 

***

 

“Do you think we’ll be able to _find_ the little shit?” Sniper whispered as they approached the BLU base. “Without getting caught by anyone else, first.” Now that they were here, he was a little less optimistic about their plan, but he didn’t have a better one and he didn’t want to wait until the next day’s battle to approach the enemy Spy.

“The bases are mirror images of each other,” Engineer murmured. “I think we can make it to his smoking room without causing too much fuss, don’t you?” He opened the door after taking a deep breath. This was an incredibly dumb plan, but he was livid that someone would try to blackmail their Spy.

They made their way down the hall silently, until they got to the BLU Spy’s smoking room. Engineer’s gunslinger made short work of the door handle and he forced his way in.

Sniper nodded; he hadn’t spent as much time in the enemy base, so he didn’t know it as well. Although, he supposed, Engineer could also have a blueprint.

He grinned savagely as they burst through the door, kukri drawn.

BLU Spy looked up from his magazine with genuine surprise written on his face. “…you broke my door,” he remarked.

“Just be glad we didn’t break your _face_ —yet,” Sniper snarled. He groaned internally—he sounded like bloody _Scout_.

Engineer closed the door as best he could before rounding on the Spy. “What are you after, snake?”

“Well, I was hoping to enjoy a quiet brandy and a cigarette, but it seems my plans have changed,” the BLU said, still calm, voice full of surprise. “What exactly do you think you’re doing here? It’s frowned upon to sneak about other people’s bases, you know.”

“We’re here to see what _you’re_ doing…here.” Sniper quailed a little; the Spy seemed so genuinely confused, without a hint of a knowing smirk.

“This is my room,” the BLU Spy quirked an eyebrow. “I was reading a magazine and drinking.”

“Don’t lie, you damn rat, you sent us those pictures!”

BLU Spy perked up at that. “Pictures?” What sort of incriminating photos had someone dug up on these two?

“Y-yes,” Sniper said, less certain by the moment that they were doing the right thing. But who else could it _be_? “The _pictures_!”

“I’m afraid I can’t help you, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

At that, Engineer lost his temper, stepping forwards to grab the Spy by his lapels and shake him hard. “I said _don’t lie._ ”

“Truckie…” Sniper was watching the BLU Spy’s face very closely. It had taken him years and a lot of hard lessons, but he’d gotten pretty good at telling when someone was lying. If this Spy was _anything_ like theirs… “I think he’s telling the truth.” He didn’t want to undermine Engineer, but he also didn’t want to hurt an innocent—for the moment, anyway—man, and he knew Engineer wouldn’t want to, either. Besides, if Engineer still thought it was him, they could play good-cop bad-cop.

The BLU Spy nodded, hands clutching at the arms of his chair, swallowing hard. This was not the plan for his afternoon.

At that, Engineer deflated slightly. He pushed the Spy back into his chair. He put a hand on each arm of the chair and leaned down over the Spy, so they were eye to eye. His voice was quiet, but underneath it was steel. “If I find out this was your doing, you are going to regret bein’ born, do you understand me?”

The BLU Spy nodded again, slowly.

“Good.” Sniper’s voice was battle-field cold on that one word, without a drop of hesitation. “See you tomorrow—on the end of my kukri.”

As soon as they were gone, the BLU Spy sighed and went to find his Engineer. He needed his door fixed.

***

Meanwhile, the RED Spy was curled up in his own armchair, with Heavy sitting across from him in a much bigger, specifically Heavy-sized armchair. “I just don’t know what to make of it,” he said in Russian, pretending to inspect his gloves for imperfections. Eye contact was hard when he was feeling emotional.

“It’s…a little strange,” Heavy conceded, “but I _don’t_ think it’s because they didn’t care. They do care about you. Very much,” he reminded his friend.

Spy sighed through his nose. “It’s not the reaction I had been hoping for.” He didn’t want to admit how hurt he was, but he was pretty sure Heavy saw right through him.

“No, of course not.” Heavy was torn—he wanted to comfort his upset friend, but he also wanted to smack him upside the head and tell him he was being an idiot. He’d gotten used to being approached for advice by his teammates, especially about relationships, and it usually came down to the same thing— _talk_. He and Medic had their own problems, of course, but they both believed in open, honest communication. It was unfortunate that they both had to speak in a foreign _language_ to communicate, but…

Heavy sighed, resting his chin on his steepled fingers. Of course no one ever listened when he came straight out and told them to talk, so he’d gotten good at approaching it sideways. “Maybe they wanted to surprise you with something, the way you surprised them.” He didn’t think that was very likely, but he wanted to break Spy out of the downward thought-spiral he was clearly caught in.

“You don’t believe that,” Spy accused Heavy. “They lied to me. Engineer _never_ lies.”

Spy grimaced. Maybe this had been a stupid idea. Maybe it was too much to reveal to his lovers. Maybe… maybe they just weren’t interested. But they’d always encouraged him to tell them little bits of his past. They’d always seemed excited to hear more. Why would that suddenly change?

He just couldn’t figure it out.

“Misha, how would you react if Josef gave you photographs of himself throughout his life? You’d be happy, wouldn’t you?”

“No, I don’t. Sniper never lies, either.” Heavy sighed. “I just meant…there are other possibilities. Of course, I would be delighted.” Medic had actually shown him a few pictures, and Heavy had promised to get some of his own the next time he visited his family.

He shook his head. “It just doesn’t make _sense_ ,” he finally admitted. “I _know_ they’d both be happy. I _know_ it.”

“I thought so too,” Spy sighed. “Maybe I should just take them back and pretend this never happened.”

“I think it’s probably too late for that, one way or another. You said both of them had taken—or at least moved—their envelopes, right?”

“I can find them,” Spy shrugged. “It won’t be hard. They’re not the types to hide things.”

“That’s not my _point_ ,” Heavy laughed, shaking his head. “They’ve seen them; taking them back at now wouldn’t change that. Them having seen the pictures isn’t the problem, it’s their _reaction_ that’s the problem.” He raised an eyebrow at Spy, deciding to be blunt. “Would you consider simply _speaking_ to them about this?”

Spy looked away. He couldn’t. Not only was he terrible at being honest and open, but if it turned out they didn’t care, or something similar, it would be painful. Spy was not ready to deal with that sort of emotional pain. He’d rather skulk and remove all traces of his mistake.

“No, I didn’t think so.” Heavy resisted rolling his eyes, barely. He knew his friend was trying, and that Spy had made a lot of progress. “Just…promise me you won’t do anything—” _stupid_ “— _rash_ , alright? Not until you find out what’s really going on. And you will. And it will be _fine_.” He reached out and rested a hand on Spy’s shoulder, giving it a very gentle squeeze. “And I’ll laugh at you and we’ll drink vodka, alright?”

“I could do without the laughing at me, but otherwise that sounds fine. Though I think some vodka wouldn’t go amiss now, what do you think?” Spy suggested. He could use a drink or three to take the edge off.

“I didn’t bring any with me, unless you keep some. But I would have some brandy.”

“That sounds nice too.” Spy stood to pour them both a glass.

***

Sniper paced Engineer’s workshop, hands crossed behind his back. “If it’s not _him_ , then who?” He shook his head. “It’s just too much. Too big. Miss P.? The Administrator? But why? Why now, why like this?”

“I doubt either of them would want to spook him, they need him here to work,” Engineer groaned. “I just can’t—I just can’t see any reason for this. There’s no note, no demands… who would send them? Maybe it’s not blackmail. Maybe it’s…” he wracked his brain, trying to come up with something else it could be. “Someone from his past? Someone who doesn’t want him to have new lovers?” That didn’t really make a lot of sense either. He threw up his hands in frustration.

The envelopes sat on his table and he was so tempted to look through them. He wanted so badly to see Spy through the years, to see what he looked like as a kid. It just didn’t seem right to look at them without Spy’s permission. It felt like a betrayal, even though he yearned for it.

Sniper caught Engineer’s gaze and grinned wryly at the envelopes. “I’m curious too, but it just doesn’t feel right, does it?” He sighed. “Makes about as much sense as anything else we’ve come up with. We could…dust them for fingerprints? Nah, what’d we compare them too.” He groaned, ending in a laugh. “There’s a reason we’re not bloody spies, mate.”

Engineer nodded. “Should we just take them to him? We’re not any closer to figuring it out on our own.” He hated the thought of scaring Spy, but it was starting to seem necessary.

“I think we might have to. We’re not getting anywhere on our own, and while we’re sitting here, whoever did this could be doing…something.” Sniper threw up his hands in disgust. “You want to tell him, or should I? Or…we could go together.”

“Let’s go together,” Engineer agreed, taking Sniper’s hand in his and squeezing gently.

***

“Do you want me to stay here with you?” Heavy asked. “I’d just have to go let Medic know, but I can come right back if you…want company tonight.”

“No, you’ve done enough.” Spy pressed a kiss to Heavy’s chin, having to stand on his toes to reach. “Thank you, Misha.”

“If you’re sure… You won’t just stay awake all night, sad and worried?” Heavy looked up. “I think someone’s knocking.”

“Yes, and judging by the sound it’s Engineer,” Spy sighed. It looked like his conversation with his lovers was coming sooner than he’d have liked.

“You can tell who it is just by the knock?” Heavy laughed. “No, of course you can.” He quickly downed the rest of his brandy and stood. “I’d best be going, then.” He nudged past Engineer and Sniper, wondering why they both looked so worried. He hesitated, frowning. “If you do anything to upset him…” he warned them, very softly.

Sniper shook his head. “Don’t know if we can avoid it.”

Engineer’s brow was knit together and he nodded in agreement with Sniper.

Heavy glowered at both of them, then shrugged and left them to it. They were all adults, at least on paper.

Spy welcomed them in as though nothing was wrong, pouring both of them a little brandy. He was determined not to be the one to start this conversation.

Sniper exchanged glances with Engineer. “Mate, we’re really sorry to have to bring this to you, especially like this, but…we didn’t really have a choice.”

Spy frowned. He’d already had several glasses of brandy but it didn’t seem to be helping with his anxiety. “What is it?” Had they seen something in the pictures? Something he’d missed? Some terrible thing that would end it all, right here?

Engineer took a steadying breath, “We’re not a hundred percent on this, so don’t get too worked up, but we think you’re being blackmailed.”

Spy was flabbergasted. “…what?” Was this not about the pictures at all? Again, that raised the question, had they just not cared?

“We tried working it out for ourselves, but…” Sniper laughed, “it didn’t work out very well. I might actually have to apologize to the BLU Spy, and I’m not looking forward to that.” He paused, looking at Spy’s face more closely—he was white beneath his mask, and the brandy was sloshing in his glass. “Did you get one, too?”

“One what?” Spy demanded.

“An envelope. With photos of you.”

Spy’s mouth twitched.

“You _did_. Oh, mate, we’re sorry. We should’ve come to you right away, but we didn’t want to worry you if we didn’t have to.”

Spy began to laugh.

Engineer exchanged a worried glance with Sniper.

“We’ll protect you from…who or whatever this is, of course. We were just worried you’d disappear.”

Spy rolled his eyes. “I gave those to you idiots.” He snorted and held out his hand. “Do you have the envelopes on you?”

Engineer’s jaw dropped. “And you didn’t think to leave a note on them?!”

“You…?” Sniper blinked, still feeling like he didn’t understand. “You. You left them for us.”

“Yes. Envelope,” Spy demanded, hand still out.

Engineer handed him his envelope, speechless.

Spy opened it, spreading the pictures out on his little side table. “I wanted to share these with you.”

Sniper blinked again, faster this time. He swallowed hard. “Spy. You gave us pictures…of you?” He wasn’t going to cry. He was just going to look at the pictures— _of Spy,_ from _Spy_ —with his lovers.

Engineer shook his head. Of course. This was just a Spy plan gone awry. They’d spent all day worrying when it was nothing malicious, just Spy, trying in his secretive way to share something personal. Of course he couldn’t have just given them the envelopes, or written something on them. Spy didn’t like confronting emotional situations. It was just like him to leave nondescript envelopes full of photos with no explanation and expect them to pick up on what he wanted.

Spy sighed, moving the little table in the middle of the three armchairs. He stood to turn on the light, seeing as firelight was a little too dim to properly see anything.

Sniper sat, still feeling a little dazed. “You’re a wanker,” he told Spy, fondly. “A complete, utter _wanker_.”

“How was I supposed to know you’d both think it was some kind of plot?” Spy laughed, smirking.

Engineer gave him a gentle smack on the arm. “How were we supposed to know they were from _you_?!”

Spy shrugged. “I thought it was obvious.”

“Yep, nothing like an unmarked envelope full of…incriminating photographs!...to make a romantic gesture!” Sniper agreed, smacking Spy’s other arm for good measure.

“They’re not incriminating!” Spy protested.

“You have to admit that was a suspicious way to give us a present.”

“I have to admit nothing.”

Sniper shook his head. “’course not. Little shit. Well, let’s see them, then. With _context_ this time.”

Spy laid them out in order, suddenly shy. There were a few of him in large groups in front of an orphanage. One of him in a group of children on the street. One of a young Spy on the shoulders of an older man. One of him smoking a cigarette with a girl who was drinking straight out of a wine bottle. They looked to be younger than ten. There were several of him in groups of young men, one under the flag of the Free French, several with men holding rifles. One of him kneeling on a horse, facing backwards. One of him in the midst of code breakers, listening to a radio. He looked closer to their Spy now, a streak of silver in his hair.

“…Spy…” Sniper managed, his voice sounding a little choked.

Engineer looked a little choked up too. “These are great. I can’t believe you found all these, just for us.”

Spy shrugged, as though it were nothing, but he reached out and squeezed both their hands.

Sniper nodded to show Engineer spoke for both of them, giving Spy’s hand a good hard squeeze in return. “Love you both.”

“Love you too,” Spy murmured.


End file.
